...what does that spell? Alright, just got back from Baylor MSTP interview. WOOHOO! Man, it is the best. First MSTP interview, first time in TX, great school, great people (ok, ok so my interview went well). Interesting Fact: Out of the 50+ people interviewed, there were only about 10-15 women. Doesn't that go against the national trend? Later
Wow nice! so you loved the school. How many interviews did you have there? When you say 50 were interviewed are you implying that they were all MSTP? If not how many were MSTP. Baylor is up there on my list and I'm hoping for an interview.
54 people total 6 MD/PhD (they only interview ~60/year for MD/PhD versus ~600 for MD) And yes I did LOVE the school. I am from the East Coast so I really wasn't sure about Texas...But, it's great. The other MD/PhD candidates were really nice and intelligent (and diverse!). The MD applicants were very nice (mostly from TX in this batch). The medstudents were super cool. The curriculum is spectacular for MD/PhD: 1.5 years preclinical(with some patient exposure), then six months of clinical rotations (enough time to knock out surgery and internal med) and then grad school for as long as you take (avg ~5 years). Finally, since you complete six months clinical before grad school, there are only 18 months of clinical rotations to do after your thesis. THEN, you have 10 months off for whatever (study for boards, kick back, travel, start a family, etc). Program is very flexible with tons of electives. Research is outstanding in almost all fields as Baylor is in the world's largest medical center and shares some programs with Rice. Oh boy, If you have any other questions just ask. I loved it and it has skyrocketed on my priority list. Later
Hey Jonny-5, on Jan 2 I'll be in College-Park for a conference on Non-linear Dynamics and Quantum Chaos. We should hook up. When you say the MD/PhD interviewees were diverse, what exactly do you mean? Can you break it down for me in terms of race, sex, age, major,.. Yea I know they've got an All-Star cast of a faculty. P Read Montague does some wicked-ass math/Comp-Neuroscience research down there.
Demographics: 3 male 3 female 3 caucasian (m,f,f) 1 african american (m) 1 of middle eastern/Indian descent (m) 1 of asian descent (f) 3 bio/neurobio majors 1 bioengineering 1 chemistry major 1 can't remember research interests: 2 molecular virology 1 cardiology 1 bioengineering 1 genetics 1 neuroscience If you are into the whole math/physics/bioengineering thing then Baylor is THE place. In conjunction with Rice they have an awesome program. You should check out Dr. Prassad in the stuctural/computational biology & biophysics dept. His work is world renowned for 3D modeling of proteins/viruses etc. By Jan. 2, I will have graduated but will probably still be in the area. Email me again closer to winter and I will show you around CP (our physics dept is pretty damn cool). Later
On the two interviews I've had so far, there've been only a few girls, which I also thought was odd. I figured it was just the random days I chose to interview... Original: if you're in College Park, see if you can check out stuff in DC! Whenever I have guests visit, that's where we seem to end up. Just hanging out in Dupont Circle or Georgetown is sort of neat... Are you going to a conference at UMD or at a lab nearby? Just nosy 'cause my dad works with non-linear optics and I thought it maybe had something to do with what you're researching (probably not, but you never know!)
Jonny-5: Was it the African American guy that had bioengineering as his research interest? If so, I might know him; but probably not. Hey that's so nice of you to offer to show me around. I'll definitely email you closer to winter; but before then we might actually run into each other at one of these interviews. Elle: Yeah the conference is at UMDcp. Non-linear optics sounds really interesting. Your dad will probably be at the conference. I spoke with an old highschool friend of mine, and she told me to ride the train to DC that it takes about 30min. So I'll see DC during that trip.
